Our Red Rose
by latchandidntdoittt
Summary: Every chloroplast-filled cell she touched would wilt in her very hands. Coincidence? Or maybe an omen. When she meets an eccentric venus flytrap man, she is surprised to find he does not die in her care. In fact, maybe there's something more to him...


You had always thought of yourself as very average. In the academy, your grades weren't failing grades, neither were they outstanding. You had friends, but not an entire group of girls who absolutely admired you. Your jutsus were neither amazing nor dull, and your performance in the Chuunin Exams wasn't anything out of the ordinary. When you advanced to a jounin, it was after many years of being a chuunin and after Tsunade finally decided to raise your rank. In other words, you were a plain Jane. If you were among a crowd of people in the village that were possibilities to be chosen for a super special A-rank mission, the chances of you being chosen for your excellent abilities were probably 0.0001.

However, and this was an embarrassing secret you kept to yourself because it wasn't like it really mattered, and you felt humiliated you even cared about it, there was one thing you couldn't be a plain Jane at. And that, my friend, was nurturing plants. No, this doesn't mean you were superb at caring for plants. In fact, it means the very opposite.f You might as well be a bad-luck charm. Every single petal or leaf that your fingertips brushed against, even in the slightest, in less than five minutes, it would suddenly and mysteriously wilt and become shriveled-up and brown, almost like a prune.

Still, you insisted on keeping a garden in your backyard, as your mother was a person with a green thumb, and you wanted to keep the garden as something to remember her by. But every petal was wilted and dried, every leaf was either a sickly yellow, a rotten brown, or a puking orange, as was every grass blade. It was like the autumn you never wanted. You wouldn't hate autumn so much if you entire backyard wasn't so dead. Heck, even the trees that surrounded your "garden" were dead.

But everything changed one day...that day that you met _him_.

Twisting the stem of a wild dandelion from your backyard, you stared at the bare flower head for a few seconds, then lowered your head with a dramatic nod and fell back onto the grass, groaning. "This is supposed to be a _wild_ dandelion, isn't it? Then why, _why_ is it DEAD?" Your complaints didn't waver the garden in the slightest. You expected that it was probably used to your repetitious words by now, even though it wasn't like they could really hear. You covered your eyes with your arm as you tilted your head up towards the sky, staring at the small part of the sun that your arm wasn't covering. "Why, flowers, do you hate me so?!" A light breeze simply blew across the garden in response, making it seem like autumn more than ever.

"It's SUMMER! Aren't you guys supposed to be blooming?!" you demanded, springing onto your feet and glaring at the bare patch of soil in front of you where the daisies were supposed to grow. A few did, in fact, miraculously grow, but as soon as you so much placed a finger on it, it wilted. So now, a few of them, brown and as dead as ever, stared back at you lifelessly.

Feeling silly talking to your flowers now, you started trudging your way towards the end of the garden and onwards to the trail that led towards a forest that sprouted emerald green leaves and bright bunches of flowers. You tried avoiding walking into this forest as much as possible, not wanting to ruin the beautiful greenery, but you wanted to escape your brown garden for a few minutes, even if it meant killing all the little plants and flowers you came across.

You stared hard at the wild honeysuckles as you approached them, and the pure whites and creamy yellows made you reach out, but you stopped yourself before you could touch it, reminding yourself you shouldn't try killing the entire forest. You continued your way into the forest, stopping every now and then to admire a patch of flowers for a few seconds and then turning away before it could wilt in front of your eyes. You made a sharp turn just then, simply on whim, suddenly putting you off-trail. You continued your way in the direction you had turned without taking another look behind you, feeling as if the path you were walking was just..._right_.

You paused as you reached a small clearing, and scanned the area for flowers, like you always did whenever you reached an unfamiliar area. You were happy to see that there were plenty of flowers, varying from dandelions, shasta daises, and pink and white cosmos to forking larkspurs, summer pheasant's-eyes, and even marigolds. You were so mesmerized by the beauty of all the flowers that you failed to noticed the figure that was pressed against the trunk of the tree about a few feet away from you, the figure's back facing you. Finally though, when your excitement had calmed down a bit, your ninja instincts kicked in and you heard a soft and almost inaudible breathing. Almost inaudible, but it was definitely there.

You spun your head, trying to locate the owner of the breathing, and flushed when you realized that he or she had been in front of you the entire time. You took a step forwards, cautiously, and tilted your head. It seemed like the figure was sleeping. However, being the average ninja you were whose sneaking skills weren't elite, you accidentally stepped on a twig, and a loud snapping sound echoed through the air.

This immediately awoke the figure, whomever it was, with a sharp jolt, because you could see him or her move with a sharp movement before freezing.

"Erm...excuse me, but...?" you said slowly, taking another step forwards.

"Stay away." It was a he. Definitely a he. His voice was low and husky, and raised goosebumps on your arm.

"Hm...?" you froze in your spot, neither advancing towards him any longer nor turning away.

"Stay away." Strange. The voice sounded different this time...less rough and somewhat gentler.

"Why?" It sounded more like a statement than a question when it tumbled out of your mouth, as if daring for him to give you a reason.

There was a pause, and then he spoke again, in the husky and low voice. "Because."

"Because...?" you pressed, and with a swift motion, you suddenly appeared next to him. Turning your head towards him, you stared at him.

You weren't too sure what the most abnormal feature about him was. Maybe it was the fact that half of him was black, and the other half was a pale white. The division between the two colors was a perfectly straight line that ran down the middle of his entire body. Or maybe it was how his body seemed to be enveloped in a rather large venus flytrap. Maybe it was even his clothing, for he wore a black cloak that had swirling red clouds patterning it. Even his hair and eyes were peculiar, as his hair was jaggedly short in an olive color, and his eyes were a bright yellow, the color of the wild dandelions in the clearing at this very moment. They were also pupil-less, which probably explained why you couldn't feel his eyes locked onto you until they tore away from you, and you jumped backwards a little.

"Told you so." He slowly rose from the grass and started to walk away.

"W-wait!" As soon as the word passed through your lips, you blinked, wondering why you called after him. But he had turned around now, eyeing you curiously. You had to say something. "A-ano...what's your name?"

There was no hiding the surprise registered on his face, and he didn't speak for several moments. Finally, he took a few steps back to where he was sitting before, and slowly sat down again. "Zetsu."

Something about his actions got to you, because the next thing you knew, you found a wide grin spread on your face. "My name is Hanabira. Do you like flowers, Zetsu-san?"

"...Maybe" was his response as he closed his eyes.

"I do, too," you smiled. "My mom always had a green thumb, so I grew up around flowers. She showed me a venus flytrap once, I think they're pretty neat."

He opened one eye now and stared at you for a while before speaking. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

You blinked and eyed him again, from the venus flytrap to the strange cloak he was wearing. "No...not really. I don't think you look that frightening." You brushed your fingertips lightly against one side of the venus flytrap curiously, but he jerked himself back quickly like he had just been stung, and your eyes widened. "Ohmigoodness, please tell me you're not dying!"

He stared at you strangely before shaking his head. "Why would I be dying?"

"Never mind..." you muttered, eyeing him in wonder that his venus flytrap wasn't even showing the slightest bit of brown. "Do you have a favorite flower, Zetsu-san?"

"No, not really. I like flowers all the same," Zetsu replied after a while.

"Really? It's the same with me, but I do have a few that I especially like, like cosmos or daisies. I also like dandelions, they're really pretty when a breeze comes around," you said, and started launching into a rant about flowers. You were blabbering now. You always did this when you were nervous. Why were you nervous? This wasn't making any sense.

But Zetsu didn't seem to mind. In fact, he actually seemed to be listening to your continuous ranting. When you finally paused for breath, he spoke. It wasn't the husky and low voice, but in the smooth and gentle voice that made your skin tingle. "Do you have a garden?"

You flushed at the thought of your dying dead garden. "Erm...no, not particularly."

He gave you a questioning look at this, and you reddened even more, your eyes traveling around you, trying to find something to say. Your gaze landed on Zetsu's right hand. "Ano, Zetsu-san...are you married?"

Zetsu looked utterly surprised by the question. "No...why do you say that?"

You pressed your index finger against the large ring on his finger. "That."

The corners of his mouth lifted, almost like a small smile, as he replied, "I'm...in an organization. This ring symbolizes my membership."

"An organization?" Your eyes were wide. "Are they all plants, too?"

Zetsu's hand lifted, sliding away from your touch, and he clamped it over his mouth as he started vibrating quite violently.

"Z-Zetsu-san?" you stammered, tugging on his sleeve. "Are you alright?" You managed to tear his hand away from his mouth, and laughter immediately erupted through the air. You squeaked and jumped back, startled.

His laughter didn't cease, however, for a good two minutes. It finally faded afterwards, and he shook his head. "No, most definitely not." He paused. "We do have a shark, though. And a puppet."

Your eyes widened. "A _shark_?!" you exclaimed incredulously. "How can he walk on land?"

"He's only got the gills and the blue skin, no fins," Zetsu assured you.

"Oh. Well, what about the puppet, then? Is he anything like Pinnochio?" you asked curiously.

Zetsu chuckled. "In a way, yes. But then again, if his nose grew an inch for every lie he told, his nose would be longer than thirty feet."

"Well, do any of them like flowers like you do?" you questioned, tilting your head.

Zetsu paused. "Only poppies, I'm guessing."

"Why?" you blinked. "Poppies symbolize death, don't they? They're usually put beside gravestones. Why would they like poppies?"

He shook his head. "Long story."

"Do you like poppies?"

"Sometimes."

And on and on it went, the questions, the answers. It was wonderful, you had never really talked this much before in the entire last month put together. The two of you talked for possibly hours before you noticed the time.

"Oh..." you blinked, eyeing the sun and calculating how long it would be until sundown. "I have to go now, I'm supposed to be wanted for some kind of mission. I'm sorry...can you come here tomorrow, Zetsu-san, same place, same time?"

His eyes were closed, almost thinking about the question. Finally, his eyelids fluttered open, and his yellow, pupil-less eyes stared at you. "Sure." It was in the low and husky voice, and it never failed to raise a million goosebumps on your arms.

You sprung up to your feet, bowed, and exclaimed, "Arigato gozamisu!" as you ran off happily.

And maybe, if you weren't so focused on getting yourself to the Hokage building on time, you would've noticed that every grass blade that you stepped on stayed a bright emerald green, and that every flower you passed sustained their bright colors.

It was the next day, and you were sprawled out on the grass in your dead garden, waiting for the little half hour left to pass so you could talk to Zetsu again. You sighed, sitting up slowly and pulling the dead leaves out of the messy black braid your long hair was tied into. At the moment, you didn't even want to bother staring at your wilted flowers, your mind was too focused on the mysterious venus flytrap man that you had met yesterday. So focused, in fact, you didn't even notice that a pair of yellow eyes had been locked on you for about ten minutes now. You finally did when a light chuckle rang through the air. Your eyes landed on the owner of the laugh, startled.

It was none other than Zetsu. "H-how did you...?" you stammered.

"I don't know. I was just wandering around and found the trail," he shrugged. He eyed your garden. "So, you tend to kill flowers?"

"On accident," you confessed. "I...I don't know, but when I touch something, in about four minutes, it dies!"

"...'Please tell me you're not dying?'" he quoted, scanning each and every dead flower thoroughly.

You flushed. "Ano...about that..."

He shushed you, raising an index finger, and made his way through the garden as he tried to identify each of the wilted flowers. He paused at a completely bare soil patch. "What's this supposed to be?"

"Roses. They hate me..." you muttered, embarrassed.

He placed his hand over one area where a rose was supposed to grow, and didn't say anything for a few moments. "Yeah, roses..."

"Erm, can we talk in the forest? I really don't like my garden," you said, looking down at the ground at a particular grass blade that you all of a sudden found extremely interesting.

Taking one last look at the garden, he nodded. "Sure..."

What you didn't noticed that he did, though, were that small little buds were starting to sprout in your garden.

And so, from then on, you and Zetsu would meet up in the forest and talk for hours everyday. You started learning more and more about him and the organization he was in, and the days soon became weeks, nearly a month now.

But then...one day, he was late. And not just by a minute, but by about twenty minutes now.

Finally, you decided to wander the forest for a while before coming back to the area. You sprung onto your feet, happily humming a tune as you went in a random direction, admiring the flowers that you passed and turning away before they could wilt. Even though it was just the fact you didn't notice that the flowers no longer wilted when you passed them by.

You found a small patch of forking larkspurs in front of you, and you squealed with delight, awed by the pretty lavender petals. You quickly passed them by though, and soon found dandelions, summer pheasant's-eyes, and even a few plains coreopsis. As you passed the plains coreopsis, though, you heard shouts coming from not too far from where you were of "Get him!" There was soon a maniacal laughter that filled the air, making you wince, and a cruel, harsh voice hiss, "Your death wish, my command!"

You face paled as you recognized that familiar sound of bones cracking and blood splattering, and soon, shouts of horror rang through the air. What was happening? You ran insanely towards the massacre now, just wondering what could possibly be going on.

You soon arrived at a fairly large clearing. You surveyed the scene in terror. The trees were scratched and smeared with blood, bodies were sprawled out on the ground, some with kunai stuck in their backs, all clearly dead, and the emerald green grass you loved so much was stained with red. And, you could see by their porcelain masks and ninja headbands that they were the village's ANBU Black Ops. Who could've done this? The answer was right there, actually, out of the corner of your eye. You were just too afraid to look. But you had to. You forced yourself to.

You felt numb, and your blood chilled. It was Zetsu. Zetsu, the one you had been talking to for so long now. He was bent over one of the ANBU Black Ops he had killed, and was tearing the very flesh off her arm. Blood trickled from his lips and down his chin, but he didn't seem to mind.

You couldn't breathe. You couldn't move. Not a single muscle in your body was working. For some reason, you weren't scared, though. Instead, you felt..._betrayed_. It was a stupid thing to feel betrayed about, it'd only be normal that he didn't want to tell you that, oh, he was a murderer and a cannibal. But you did anyways.

Zetsu soon noticed your presence, and looked up, a low snarl emitting from his throat in annoyance at whomever had ruined his lunch. But when he saw you, he froze. Neither of you moved for a long, long time. Finally though, Zetsu stood up, his black cloak rustling in the wind, and the last thing you saw were the swirling crimson-red clouds before he disappeared with a swift motion.

You fell down onto your knees in confusion, shock, and fear.

It was later that day, and you had finally forced yourself to stand up from the blood-stained grass. You dragged yourself away from the scene, promising to yourself that you were never there and that you never saw who the killer of the ANBU Black Ops was. Finally returning to your backyard, your eyes dull and lifeless, you received possibly the biggest shock in your life.

It was your garden. All you could do was stand there, blink, and wonder if you were in the wrong backyard. You had even lost the gift of speech, for your mouth dropped into the shape of an "o" to say something, say anything, but not the slightest squeak emitted from your throat. Your garden no longer held the never-ending autumn you hated so much...but your garden was actually blooming. Your eyes were wide.

The daisies were such a beautiful color of white, the cosmos were a lovely bunch of colors, the yellow and white honeysuckles had latched itself onto the poles of the back of your house and twisted its way into a spiral, the bright orange lilies were huge and seemed to light up the garden, the bright yellow sunflowers stood tall and proud, the tulips had bloomed and were screaming the word showy, and the roses...they were breath-taking. You surveyed each and every flower carefully, not being able to believe your eyes. There were also hummingbirds perched on the majority of your flowers, their tiny bodies breathing evenly as their moth-like wings beat and their beaks sucked the nectar from the flowers.

You finally fell down on your knees helplessly in front of one red rose bud that seemed to be the only flower that was yet to bloom. And at last, the misery and depression you were feeling began to show as hot tears blurred your vision and trickled down on your cheek, one by one.

And as your now beautiful and no longer dead garden sang in happiness, you cried in despair.

You waited in the forest for him the next day, but he didn't come. Nor the next day, or the day after that, or even the day after that. You finally gave up and started moping around in your thriving garden lifelessly. Eventually, you even stopped going into your house at night and only going inside for food or something of the sort. You refused all missions in the meantime, and you barely slept.

But something you really hated was the sunshine that shone on you everyday as you sat there, just waiting for something that was impossible to happen to happen. The bright yellow circular object in the sky seemed to mock you, shining as dazzlingly as ever for the past week.

That's why, on that Saturday morning that ended the long week, when you felt a cold drop fall onto your cheek and looked up, you were somewhat thrilled to see that it was raining, a weather that finally seemed to match your mood. Apparently, the sun had caught on the burning hatred you felt for it. As the seconds ticked by, the rain plipped down onto the ground softly, sloshing the dirt together and turning it into mud. The rain started falling harder with every minute, and soon, it was absolutely pouring. The air was chilled, and you were utterly drenched. You felt the short black bits of your hair that you had been unable to include in your thick braid stick to your skin, and you actually...smiled. Even when the thunder roared, something that would usually have made you jump out of your skin, the smile stayed on your lips. Lightning flashed violently, and the rain eventually developed a steady beat.

_Plip_, **plop**, _plip_, **plop**.

You felt numb and cold, but you were too devoid of your sanity to have the common sense to get up and go inside the house. Instead, you started humming softly to yourself. You had definitely lost it.

"You...you're going to catch a cold," a voice said awkwardly.

You froze, and your humming immediately stopped. It was in the middle of a particularly high note, too. You could already imagine how strange you must've sounded, and you flushed the same shade of pink the cosmo flowers you were sitting next to were. But when you stared down at your arm, and noticed the goosebumps on it, you felt odd, like your arm recognized the low and husky voice and was obligated to raise goosebumps every time the angelic voice spoke. You turned your head slowly by ninety degrees, but you didn't even need to turn the whole one hundred-eighty degrees before you spotted the hem of his cloak.

Your lips curved slightly into a smile. "I don't care."

He was quiet. "Hanabira...you're really frustrating for a kunoichi."

You laughed at his harsh words. "I know." Yet there was trace of bitterness in your laugh, and he recognized it.

"Not in the way you think. You...I wanted you to forget me."

You tilted your head. "Why? Because I found out that you were a cannibal?"

He winced at those words, and you quickly muttered, "Gomen nasai."

But Zetsu slowly shook his head, and took a few steps towards you. "You don't understand. The Akatsuki..."

For some reason, you started shivering, and you could tell it wasn't because of the cold. It was the incredible weight of importance he placed on his words.

He slid something out of his cloak, and it gleamed from the rain. You recognized it right away. The dark blue cloth of the silver plaque...it was a ninja headband. You couldn't quite make out what the village symbol was, but you clearly made out the scratch that was drawn right in the middle. _He was a missing-nin_.

"The Akatsuki is a criminal organization full of S-class criminals," he said at last.

You slowly let the words sink in, and lowered your head. A few seconds later, you started quivering fiercely.

There was a light sigh as he bent down in the wet grass and gently placed his chilled hand on your shoulder. "Hanabira..."

But when you lifted your head, you let out a giggle. He jerked backwards in surprise. Covering your mouth to silence yourself, you inquired, "So?"

He was silent, and stared at you expectantly, probably asking for you to answer that yourself.

You shook your head. "Zetsu-san, that doesn't really matter, you know."

There was another silence that greeted your words. Finally, Zetsu said quietly, "Hanabira, I think we should go inside...I think you have a fever or something."

"Zetsu-san, you don't understand. I..." you faltered, wondering if you should really tell him this. "I think I'm in love with you."

An extremely long awkward silence welcomed your statement now, and you tried your best not to run away in embarrassment as you waited for his response to this. It was an especially stretched quietness, and you noticed that the rain had slowed down to a light drizzle now, falling down rhythmically.

_Plip, plip, plip,_ **plop**, _plip_, **plop**, **plop**.

Finally, Zetsu tore his piercing yellow gaze away from you, holding absolutely no emotion. He looked around the garden. "Your garden's doing pretty well now, isn't it?"

Your heart plummeted at his ignorance at your confession, but you forced yourself to smile and nod. "I know. But there's this one rose that doesn't seem to be blooming yet."

"Which one?"

Happy that you could pretend you never confessed your feelings for him, you stood up and walked over to the rose patch, gesturing to the red rose bud that was _still_ yet to bloom.

Zetsu surveyed the rose bud carefully. "Isn't...isn't this the rose I saw a few weeks ago?"

"What?" your eyes widened. "No, I don't think it was a red rose. It'd be too much of a coincidence if it was, anyways. No, I don't think so."

Little did you know, it was.

"...Hm." After studying the rose bud for a little while longer, his eyes traveled from the rose bud to you, and then slowly, he gestured for you to move towards him.

"Nani?" you asked, crawling over to him and then sitting up Japanese style.

"I...I'm going to...try something," Zetsu said erratically, eyeing you cautiously.

"Hm?"

He cupped one hand under your chin and the other over the side of your head, and you noted that even though they were drenched, they were very soft and gentle. And then, very slowly, he pressed his icy lips against yours.

It was strange. Everything about him was cold, chilling, most likely because of the rain. But the moment his lips connected with yours, you felt a surge of warmth run through your body. You breathed in his intoxicating scent, which smelled a bit like lavender and cinnamon. It was a strange mix, but he smelled nonetheless wonderful.

You were flying. Absolutely flying. You could feel wings sprouting on your back and flapping, taking you to a place that didn't belong to this planet. It was an amazing feeling. Your blood seemed to whir and sing in pleasure.

After a minute or two, you felt the weight of his lips off of yours, and his hands withdrew from your face. It was then that you opened your eyes, and found him staring at you with an expression you couldn't really describe.

And then he spoke, in the smooth and gentle voice that made your skin tingle with delight. "I think I love you too." It was barely audible in the rain, but you heard it.

And you found yourself grinning. Grinning like an absolute idiot. Your heart was thumping a thousand times a minute, and you couldn't quite seem to stop smiling. There were no words to describe how you were feeling at this particular moment.

Your eyes traveled around you, trying to find something to say. Anything. Your cloudy gray orbs landed on the once red rose bud that was next to you. It had blossomed into a breath-taking red rose now, the petals huge and looking exactly like silk. Tiny raindrops had fallen onto the newly-bloomed flower, and they looked like priceless diamonds as they sparkled brightly in the rain. Your grin got wider, something you didn't know was possible.

"Our red rose bloomed, Zetsu-san."


End file.
